Look At Us
by pookieortega
Summary: "Look at us, after all these years together. Look at us, after all that we've been through. Look at us, still leaning on each other. If you wanna see what true love should be, then just look at us..." Katniss and Peeta on their 25th anniversary.


Peeta pov

I stand in front of the mirror buttoning up my shirt. Today is our 25th anniversary. I hear Katniss telling Rye to stop messing with his sister and to get dressed. My fifteen year old son sighs and goes to his room. Katniss walks into our room and wraps her arms around me. She runs her hands through my tossled blond and grey curls. She kisses me on the cheek and says,"I love you, Peeta."

"I love you too, Katniss." I tell her.

After all these years, Katniss still looks beautiful. Even though her body has changed because of age and kids, she still is amazingly fit. Her hair is streaked with grey, but that doesn't put a dent into her beauty. Her eyes have a few wrinkles, but she still looks younger than her age.

When I look at my reflection, you can see the same characteristics. At 45 years, we still resemble the teens that fell in love, but now we have more scars, wrinkles, and wisdom.

Our twenty year old daughter, Willow pokes her head through the door and says,"mom, dad, Grandpa Haymitch is here."

"Okay, pumpkin,"I say to her.

I take Katniss' hand in mine and run my finger over hers that holds her ring. I don't have to look at it to know that it says "Always" on it. A word I took to heart. When we get downstairs, Haymitch sits at the table. Even though he quite drinking when Willow was born, he still has the beer gut.

"Happy anniversary, love birds."

"Thanks, Haymitch,"I say.

"It's hard to believe that 28 years ago Peeta confessed his love for you and you threw him into a vase," he says laughing.

Katniss smiles and says,"who would've known."

"Who would've known that 40 years ago, I fell in love with you in kindergarten, and now here we are."

"I'm happy that you did,"she says and kisses me.

"Ewww!" Rye says as he walks downstairs. His blond curls are in its usual messy state.

"Oh shut up, Rye,"his sister says to him.

"I was just joking, Will."

"Don't call me that,"she says.

"Kids,"I say warningly.

"Sorry, dad,"they say in unison.

The door rings and I go to get it. When I open it, Annie stands with Finn who just turned 27. It's hard to believe that my godson is 27. I remember when he was born, and when he used to hug my knee because that's all he could reach, now he's taller than me. He looks so much like his dad. His hair is a little more red but other than that he looks just like Finnick.

I give Annie a hug and say,"hello, Annie. It's great to see you."

"Happy anniversary, Peeta."

"Thank you."

"Happy anniversary, Uncle Peeta,"Finn says hugging me.

"Thanks, Finn."

Behind them, is Johanna, Gale, and their kids who are just arriving.

"Aye! Lover boy!" Johanna greets.

"Hi, Jo."

Gale is right by her. His beard fully grown, and has grey streaks in it just as all of us have in our hair. Johanna has dyed all of hers bright red. Their boys, Aaron and Aspen are twins and a year younger than Willow.

"Hey, Uncle Peeta,"they say.

"Hey, boys."

After I greet them, I go into the kitchen and finish cooking dinner. Mrs Everdeen is the next to arrive. "Peeta,"she says as she walks into the kitchen. I turn around and hug her.

"Hello, mom,"I say.

"Happy anniversary."

"Thank you."

When I get dinner done, we all sit at the table. I sit at my usual spot at the end of the table, Katniss sits to my left, the kids to my right and everyone else fills in. As we bow our heads to pray, I say,"Dear Lord, thank you for leading me to my loving wife. Because of her, I have everything I could ever need in life. She gave me love and a family, she saved me. Thank you for my beloved children, who are my everything. Thank you for the people here today, and even the ones who aren't here but are looking over us. They are family who we love and cherish. Bless the food that you have given us, and bless the lives of our family and friends. Amen."

"Amen,"everyone repeats.

We all enjoy the meal and talk amongst ourselves.

When the meal is over, we all have a glass of wine, except for Rye. I stand up and say,"I'd like to make a toast."

"Well that's what bakers are supposed to do!" Johanna says.

I smile and look to my wife. When I look into her eyes, everyone else in the disappears and all I see is her. She smiles at me, her grey eyes getting misty.

"I'm not much of a singer but..." He starts.

"Look at us, after all these years together. Look at at us, after all that we've been through. Look at us, still leaning on each other. If you wanna see how true love should be, then just look at us.

Look at you, still pretty as a picture. Look at me, still crazy over you. Look at us, still believing in forever. And if you wanna see how true love should be, then just look at us.

In a hundred years from now, I know without a doubt, they'll all look back and wonder how we made it all work out. Chances are, we'll go down in history. And when they wanna see how true love should be, then just look at us.

Chances are we'll go down in history. When they wanna see how true love should be, then just look at us. And when they wanna see how true love should be, then just look at us."

Tears stream down her face as she stands to hug me. "I love you,"she cries. She looks absolutely beautiful that I can't look away from her. It's like I'm seeing her for the first time. My love for her is so powerful, that it makes everything simple as long as I have her with me. I couldn't live without this beautiful woman in my arms.

"I love you too."

"That was beautiful, Peeta. I've never heard you sing like that."

"I listen to you sing."

"I couldn't ask for a better husband,"she says before she kisses me.

After everyone leaves, and the kids are asleep, we sit in front of the fire with bread in our hands as we relive our toasting. When I look at her, i see the night that we had our toasting. It was just her and I sitting in front of this same fireplace. She had her hair out of its braid and she wore a simple sweater. Her beautiful locks were a deep brown. Her skin smooth. Her cheeks were the prettiest shade of pink without even a trace of rogue. She didn't have the scars from our children, but she did have the scars from the games.

And I, I had curly blond hair and less burn scars. My shoulders were broad and my muscles were sharp. I was in my prime and so was she. We were young, but we were sure as we poured our hearts out. And that night we made love in front of the fire. After we stared into each other's eyes.

"You love me, real or not real?" I had asked her.

Tears had fallen from her cheeks onto my bare chest as she told me,"real."

"Always."

A/N the song Peeta sang was called "Look at us" by Vince Gill


End file.
